Change as good as a holiday for young lifesavers

THOUSANDS of people flock to Sydney's Bondi Beach daily - you can expect a crowd of 50,000 on a good summers day.

Two of the Northern Rivers young passionate lifesavers are among a group of 19 have who recently returned from the annual City to Country exchange program, where they put their skills to use on Bondi and other busy beaches.

With summer still in full swing they're determined to put their new skills to good use.

On the Australia Day Long Weekend, 9 lifesavers from city clubs travelled to the Far North Coast for three days where they toured the facilities of the Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter at Lismore, workshopped with other emergency services and got to test their skills on beaches very different from their own including Byron Bay.

At the same time their 10 country based counterparts made their way to Sydney's Eastern suburbs where they will participate in a similar program and got to test their skills on some of the busiest beaches in Australia including Bondi, Clovelly, and Maroubra.

This well established and exciting networking opportunity allows patrolling members to meet like-minded people and utilise their skills on different beaches.

It was an opportunity appreciated by this year's participants.

18-year-old Kate Blunn (Evans Head-Casino SLSC) travelled to Sydney with the country group.

"My highlight was patrolling Bondi on Australia Day as well as experiencing some time on Clovelly,” Miss Blunn said.

Patrolling both beaches gave me new insights into how different patrolling other beaches is as well as highlighting the importance of communication.”

Jack Graham-Jones (Ballina Lighthouse/Lismore SLSC) was also among the 10 country participants.

Sydney lifesavers who made the journey north felt they learned some useful skills to take back to their peers.